I am a self proclaimed tech junkie. I buy stuff that entertains me. TV sets entertain me a lot. So I bought a gi-normous 65″ Plasma for my living room and a 52″ LCD for the family room. I actually bought the Plasma set about a year and a half ago when the prices were dropping on plasmas.

A lot of people thought Plasma was old tech. They thought LCD would “replace” Plasma as the latest bestus way to watch TV. Now lots of people have taken a new look at big screen formats and found that LCD may not be the best choice for the home theatre.  Having looked at a lot of sets I have to throw my two cents into the fray.

 Now, by trade I am a filmmaker. I watch movies. Lots and lots of movies. I don’t watch much more than movies. In a normal week I probably watch 15 hours of movies. I do watch the news, TMZ, The Soup and Cops as well. But I don’t usually watch sports unless someone is visiting. Once in a while when I’m surfing channels I will find myself transfixed yo a sporting event broadcast in HDTV. The LCD shows that stuff spectacularly. I swear you can read the names on the jerseys in a wide shot. I can see the writing on the football. Amazing stuff.

But when I watch a movie on the LCD something happens. Even in 1080P (the  highest resolution) movies look too “pixelized”. Too much banding and artifacts in LCD. Even a good LCD is too crisp for movies. I go to all the stores and ask for their best LCD and play a blu-ray DVD. The same thing. Artifacts, banding and pixel trailing on even the most expensive LCD I viewed.

My Plasma set is much more appealing when displaying movies. Smooth movement and natural gradations through the black scale. But inversely, sporting events are not nearly as amazing as the LCD display. I’m not the only source for this information. Many websites and Consumer Reports agree, Plasma for movies and LCD for other TV viewing.

So if you’re a movie buff look for a 1080P Plasma set with multiple HDMI inputs and a DVI input for a computer. If you are a sports and “live” event viewer get an LCD with the same inputs and 1080P resolution. But whatever you do, don’t buy a “projection TV”, or any set deeper  (thicker) than 5 inches, now THATS old technology and you should steer clear.

Insist on comparing the TV sets side by side with the exact same picture. Use a Blu-Ray source or a live sports program originating in HDTV. Then use those eyes of yours. If you can;t se the difference between the $1500 set and the $3000 set, get the cheaper one. Just make sure any set you are considering has more than one HDMI input and at least two other analog inputs. If you are seeking a Plasma be sure to shop soon because the prices of Plasmas will increase after the old stock sells out and the new 120 hertz models take the showroom floor.

Check out Consumer Reports at   [1] http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/tvs-services/index.htm to read the big screen info.